THE AVIATOR, reviewed by Chris knipp

[Chris Knipp]

bix171:Very interesting comments, though I don't share a lot of your evaluations; I can't see why you don't see that lots of the early parts are thrilling. It's a bit perverse to say the young DiCaprio is better as Hughes ages, but I think he's good all through. Another, darker more brooding and crazy film needs to be made to show the later Hughes.

"John Logan’s workman, easy-solution script " -- yes, but doesn't that intentionally make it part of a great Hollywood tradition, much like the condensation of the Ellroy novel for L.A. Confidential? How else can you do a screen epic?

Another note on Hepburn. Hope Johann doesn't think this horribly pretentious and go into another of his anti-snob rants (Thanks for the always fun and positive enthusiastic comments though, J.): A friend of mine went to see the movie with her aged mother who actually knew Hepburn. They thought they'd gotten her completely wrong, and they got bored and walked out. I repeat, if you listen to Hepburn and listen to Blanchett as Hepburn, Blanchett doesn't truly understand how Kate spoke and just copies the superficial sound of it. This is one of my big disappointments, but maybe on re-seeing the movie I'll feel differently.

I shoiuld have said that Alda and Baldwin were good. They are fine and so is just about everybody. And so are the mockups of the flying, which are some of the most exhilarating sequences in the movie.

I group this movie with House of Flying Daggers --- two big, colorful, magnificent holiday treats from two great genius filmmakers---whose ability to handle mind boggling complexity of "mise en scene" and make it all dazzling and pure fun is simply awesome.